New Beginnings
by edessa
Summary: I'm REALLY bad at summaries, but anyways - Rosalynn is a girl who learns she's a half blood. Don't stop after the 1st chapter, my writing has drastically improved with each one. Give it a chance, even if it's OC! Percabeth will still be in it!
1. The story of me

**Disclaimer**: If I was Rick Riordian…I would not be on fanfiction. So the only person I own in this story so far is Rosalynn.

**Authors Note**: This is a rewrite of the first chapter. I've done a lot of brainstorming of what I want to happen, and a lot of the first chapter kinda contradicted with what I wanted to do. So anyway…I hope I get chapter 2 up.

Also: I've had one of my ideas in my head for awhile, and I can't just spoil it by saying it right now, but I was reading percy Jackson fanfiction a little while ago, and it had my idea in it. So, when my idea is revealed in a few chapters, I can say this now. I am NOT COPYING THE OTHER PERSON'S STORY. Just wanted to let that be known…

**Chapter One**

I could feel something warm and soft around me. I could hear the twittering of birds out of my window. I slowly started to open my eyes, and I glanced at my alarm clock. Then I screamed.

"AHHHH! MOM!!!" as I fell off the bed. That was going to leave a monster bruise on my butt.

My mom burst through the door. "Rosalynn? What's wrong?"

I stared at her. "Why didn't you wake me up?? I'm going to be late!"

"You still have half an hour before you've got to go…And I thought I should let you sleep in a little. Besides, on the first day they're starting school 2 hours late."

I glowered at her. "You know, the 2 hours are for settling into the dorms. Not for sleeping in. I'm going to go get ready for school." With that, I marched into the bathroom. I knew my harsh conversation wouldn't hurt my mom's feelings. She knew how I was in the morning.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror as I brushed my teeth. I wondered what everyone would view me as. The annoying girl who can't keep still because of ADHD? The stupid girl who can't do anything since she has dyslexia? Would the teachers groan inside when I warn them about my behavior conditions? I looked over my long black hair, which cascaded over my shoulders in waves. Or maybe some thought I was pretty. I doubted it. I hurriedly put on makeup. Some people say I'm unpredictable. I know it's true. I'll be calm one minute, and then I'll be angry the next. Let's just say I'm _very_ easily provoked.

My mom was making waffles when I came into the kitchen. Her blonde hair was swept back behind her in a ponytail. "All ready?" she asked, her blue eyes sparkling.

"No," I said sullenly.

"School isn't that bad."

"It is when you get kicked out of every single one you go to."

"Well, just don't get kicked out this year."

I snorted. "Mom, I've learned by now that not getting expelled is impossible for me. Don't expect any miracles to happen."

She plopped a waffle on a plate and handed it to me. "I'm not going to expect a miracle. Just try to not make trouble in school this year."

"Are you kidding?" I raised an eyebrow as I doused the waffle with syrup. "That's going to be a bit hard when trouble just about _follows me everywhere."_ I shoved a bite of waffle in my mouth.

I looked back up at my mom. She could've been a supermodel if she had ever wanted to. I've always wished that I'd inherited her looks. Which I obviously haven't. I doubt that I'm even her child. Or my fathers. My father died, years ago. I don't look anything like him either. My mom has pictures of him. He was a brunette, with brown eyes. He looked handsome. He was undoubtedly popular in school. He had been the perfect person, along with my mom. I have very few memories of him. He died of a fall from a ladder when I was five. My best memory of him was when he was spinning me around in circles, playing with me.

I can tell Mom knows something. I wish she'd just tell me. But my mom has many secrets, as all parents do. Unfortunately, she just never wants to share any of them with me. Well duh. I doubt I got my black hair from my blonde mother, or my brunette father.

I shoved my new school supplies in my bag, and grabbed my clarinet case. I found myself to be very glad I'd listened to Mom and sent my luggage bags ahead of time. It would've been a nightmare getting on the bus if I was carrying them with me.

"Wish you luck," Mom said as she pecked me on the cheek. I stood on my tip toes, and pecked her on the cheek too.

"I'll miss you. Why do you always send me to boarding school anyways? Wouldn't it be easier if I just came to school here?"

She looked at me carefully. "Because it was your fathers dream for you to go here. He went here, now he'd want you to go."

I rolled my eyes. "I'd still rather be closer."

"You're only 50 miles away. Now, you're going to be late for the subway. I'll see you during winter break! Love you."

I gave her one last wave, and then walked down the steps toward to the bus stop. I think I started to daydream as I went there, because at one point I thought I saw a winged horse fly across the sky. _It must have been my imagination. __Better check for a fever once I get to school_

The bus was really crowded. I squeezed into a seat next to a very fat man. Setting down my things underneath the seat, I willed myself to patiently wait until we got to the subway. Until my ADHD decided to kick in. Oh crap. My hands seemed to take on life of their own. I started fiddling around with a string hanging from the hem of my shirt. Then I started biting my nails. The fat guy next to me looked at me strangely, I must've looked like I had eaten 100 pieces of sugary candy or something. A teenage boy about my age in the seat across from me gave me a sympathetic look. "ADHD?"

"Yep." I muttered.

He smiled. He had blueish gray eyes, and blonde hair."I have that too. It's not fun. So where are you headed to?"

I almost sighed in relief. The ADHD subject was now over. "I'm going to the Inede Arts Academy in Delaware. I wish I could've stayed home for school, but you know how parents are. Mom refused. Oh, by the way, my name is Roz."

"Mine is Ethan. Roz is a strange name." He blushed. "Sorry, that wasn't a nice thing to say. Is it short for something?"

"Oh, you saying that it's strange is fine. People say that all the time. To answer your question, yes, it's short for Rosalynn. But I don't want to be called Rose, because it's too…girly. And Lynn just doesn't fit me, you know?" I smiled.

"No, you don't look like a Rose or a Lynn," he agreed. By this time the bus had stopped at the train station. "Here we are." He grabbed my clarinet case for me, as I pulled out my bag. Then he handed it to me. Finally, a boy with manners.

"Are we going on the same train?" I asked. He was fun to talk to. The 3 hour long subway ride would be boring without him.

"I don't know. You're going to Delaware right?"

"Yeah."

"Then, I guess we aren't. I'm going to Michigan."

Looks like it'll be a boring train ride."So you're in boarding school too?"

"Yeah , my stepmom is a teacher in mine. It'll be interesting how that'll turn out, especially if I end up in her class."

I laughed. "That would be a bit awkward, having a parent as your teacher."

We walked over to the subway station.

"Well, I guess here's goodbye. Wait…" Ethan said as he grabbed out a pencil and scribbled something down on a scrap of paper. He handed it to me, and I tried to make sense of what he wrote. The letters swirled around, almost making me dizzy. "That's my dad's phone number. The stuff next to it is my address."

I squinted at it again. I shook my head. "Sorry Ethan, I can't read this. I have dyslexia, and anything besides size 72 print I can't read."

He didn't look surprised at that at all. "In that case, have a friend say it for you. And if you need help with _anything_, no matter how ridiculous and strange it seems, call me."

"Okay. I'd give you mine, but I don't have a cell-phone, seeing as I wouldn't be able to use to keypad without the numbers torturing my eyes." I grinned. "See you later then!"

"Yep." Ethan replied.

We took separate ways, and I paid for my ticket.

The doors opened for me as I walked inside the train, and I took a seat. Again, I shoved my stuff below my seat. After awhile, the train started filling up, and off I went to boarding school in Maine.


	2. I meet my really weird principal

**Chapter 2**

_Ah. Here at last!_ I looked out of the taxi cab window, at the building in front of me. The school was beautiful; the whole thing was red brick with dark green ivy tumbling down the walls. The dorms looked much like the school, the boys' dorm to the left of it, and the girls to the right. I wonder what else was here. I know there were several other buildings on campus, like the dining hall, behind the school but I hadn't really been interested in them until now.

The cab driver's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Umm…Miss? Are you going to get out or not?"

"Oh. Sorry about that." I grabbed my things, and opened the door.

"Mhhmm?" The driver cleared his throat, his eyebrows raised in question, and his lips pulled into a frown.

"Oh, yeah. I've got to pay you, don't I?" I dug around in my purse until I found some cash, and then handed it to him.

"Thanks," he muttered.

I collected my things again and got out of the cab. It sped away, back towards the highway, picking up speed as it went. I hoped he didn't crash into anything. He had to have been going _at least_ 90. I turned around, and started heading towards the main office inside the school building. I could hear a few cars come up behind me, and doors opening and slamming. Obviously, they were other students. Maybe I wasn't as late as I thought I was...

There was a short, fat man about 100 yards away from me. As I walked up to him, I could see he had a greasy head of brown hair, brown piercing eyes, and a long hook nose. He reached out his hand for me to shake. I cautiously accepted, staring at his yellowed, cracked fingernails. He lazily pumped my hand up and down. "I'm Mr. Wizowski, the principal here at Inede Arts Academy. Welcome, the superintendent told me to say. But I'm not going to. It'd be a waste of my time. I'd much rather be doing more worthwhile things than standing here, _welcoming_ students to this boring old school, but no. I'm here. Getting paid for standing here, watching little annoying kids walk past me. I should be some rich guy, like Bill Gates. Then there'd be a point to my life! I wouldn't have to-"

"Mhmm!" I cleared my throat. Wow, this guy can lecture almost as well as my mother! "My name is Rosalynn Hadyn. I'm new, and I-"

Mr. Wizowski widened his lips into an evil grin. "You're that girl! Then one who keeps blowing up schools everywhere she goes!" He dropped onto his knees and looked up to me pleadingly. "Please! Help me out of here! Blow up this school, wreck it, break it, and wipe it off the face of the earth! Do anything! Do everything! I want out of here! I want to go to the city, and get a life! Not look after a bunch of lazy kids all day. Please! Help me! Blow up the school! You've done it to others. Do it to this one too! I beg of you-"

"Umm…how about you just tell me where to sign in?" I interrupted quickly.

"Oh, there's no need. You do it in your dorms. The girls dorm is over there," he said, pointing to the sign that clearly read: GIRLS.

"Alright then…See you later." I gave him a weird look and walked towards the girl's dorm. He was a really strange guy. I decided to _not_ blow this school up, just for him. I don't usually blow schools up. I never mean to anyway. Just a bunch of weird stuff happens around me, and I get blamed.

Like the time I was in math class. I was scribbling unreadable notes down, and attempting to look like I understood what we were doing, and all of a sudden this weird guy walked in. He was huge, and he had all these tattoos all over his arm. He had walked right up to me, licked his lips, and tried to _eat_ me. Yes, I said he tried to EAT ME! Just a LITTLE weird, don't you think? So, I tried to get the teachers attention. But she didn't notice. How she didn't notice a huge guy with tattoos trying to eat me, I have no idea. What's more, when I looked at this guy's eyes, they looked almost as if the merged into one _eye_. Which was weird. Just a bit. So, naturally, I ran away. And guess who followed me. Yes, it was Mr. I-want-to-eat-you. He would keep running into things as we were running down the school halls. Like, smashing lockers and doors, reducing a few of the walls to rubble, and of course, running into quite a bit of glass windows and doors, which would immediately shatter all over the floor. Just when I thought he would get me, this guy who looked very pleased with himself strolled around the corner. He had a shiny golden bow, and held in his hand were a few arrows. His face looked like an elf…one who wanted to steal something. He winked at me and grinned. Then he nocked an arrow and shot it into Mr. I-want-to-eat-you's chest. Then Mister looked down at the imbedded arrow, grunted, then turned to dust and disappeared. The elf guy gave one last wink, and walked out the door. I could hear some guy scream once he got outside. "YOU! GIVE ME BACK MY BOW YOU DISGUSTING LITTLE BRAT!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE EVEN RELATED TO ME!!!"

I would have wondered what had just happened, but by this time the police found me, led by an angry principal. Of course, they didn't believe my story. So I was expelled for vandalism and disrupting the "learning environment."

I have many different stories like that. At the end, I always get expelled. Should I actually try to finish a school year? I think it's a lost cause. But I may as well do my best…

As I arrived to the girls' dorms, I opened the glass door, and walked into a room that I guessed was the lounge. There was everything here, a concession stand, vending machines, a few arcade games, a big screen TV with a playstation 3, and 2 gigantic navy couches. There were a few girls here already, and suitcases were strewn around the floor. I spied a dorm list taped up on the wall. I traced my finger along the names until I found mine. A123. Pretty easy to remember...

I turned to one of the girls stretched out along one of the couches. "Hey, where do they give out our dorm keys?"

"All the dorms are unlocked right now. Our dorm inspector distributes the keys to us tonight," she answered me kindly. The girl had brown hair, and golden-brown eyes.

"Ok. Where would my luggage be if I sent it ahead of time? Would it just be in my dorm?"

"Yea, I think so. I wouldn't know, I brought all mine today." She smiled at me. "When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago. I met our principal. He should star in a soap opera." I laughed, and she giggled along with me.

"I know. He reminds me of my dad. Only a bit though. My dad's not _that_ melodramatic.

We laughed. "My name's Roz, what's yours?"

"Stephanie. Is your name short for Rosalynn? My aunt was named that. I thought it was a name that not many people use anymore…maybe I'm wrong."

"Well, you're right. It is short for Rosalynn. But, I was under the impression it wasn't used much anymore too…it must just be a coincidence. By the way, what dorm are you in?"

"A123. You?"

"Same! We're roommates!"

"Our other roommate is a girl named Annabeth…she's new here too."

"Hopefully she's nice. I had a roommate a few years ago who would take all of our stuff and use it. I'd find my hair-dryer gone one day, and the next day my purse would be gone, with all of its former contents dumped on my bed! At least she didn't touch the money or my wallet."

Stephanie gasped in mock horror. "You're kidding. Absolutely outrageous!"

I grinned. "Luckily, we got the principal to talk to her. Anyways, I'd better put this stuff up in the dorm. Wanna come with?"

"Sure, why not. It'd sure beat sitting here. A part of me wants relax, and the other wants school to just start already so we don't just sit here waiting for the inevitable!" She laughed, snatching up her purse. We walked out of the lounge, and headed up the stairs. When we got to our door, I saw a piece of paper with my name and Stephanie's. Annabeth's was also there. There was already a signature by Stephanie's name, meaning that she had checked in.

"That's all you have to do to check in? Sign your name on this?"

"Yeah, I guess so. At least, that's what I did." She held out a pen for me and I took it.

As I signed my name, a gorgeous girl walked by. I think I was turning green with envy. I looked like dirt compared to her. She had red hair the color of autumn, and a pretty shade of green eyes which sparkled in the light. Her whole face was covered with makeup, put on expertly. She glanced at me, and her eyes widened with recognition. Then she shook her head as if in denial, and turned the corner.

"Who was _that_?" I asked my new friend.

She giggled. "Silena Beauregard. Don't be too jealous of her…apparently she's really shallow. She doesn't really care about what you're talking about unless it's about gossip, makeup, boys, and love. From the looks of it, she's a person who's amazing on the outside, but in the inside there's organs, and maybe a few brain cells."

"She couldn't be that bad, could she?" I asked, curiously. "I mean, it's not like you know her…"

"Well maybe she's different than what her appearance shows her to be, but whatever. It's a pointless conversation anyway."

"Mmhmmm…" I murmured. I think there was more to her than Stephanie thought. Whatever. Like she said, I had more important things to think about. Such as unpacking. Ugh. I opened the door to the dorm, and walked into a cozy room. There were three beds, 2 of them were bunk beds, and the other was just a single bed. A window was on the left wall, facing the rest of the campus outside. There was a large desk was next to the single bed, and a closet was on the right wall. "Wow! This is sooo cool!" I grinned at Stephanie and started jumping on the single bed. She quickly snatched my arm and pulled me down.

"Hey! I've already claimed that bed, and I don't want you breaking it, or your head! If you break your head, and Annabeth turns out to be a brat, I won't have anyone worthwhile to talk to!"

I laughed. "Sorry, I've been sitting down all day. I'm really hyper right now."

"No kidding…" We both heard footsteps coming towards our door. Then the door handle opened, and we saw a girl with blonde hair walk in. She had wild, calculating grey eyes as if she expected one of us to eat her alive…then she saw me and gasped.

AU: A little bit of a cliffie, maybe. I'm always bad at those anyway. I didn't like this chapter, but I guess I've got to start the story to get to the parts I actually want to write…I'm SO sorry that it took me so long to get this up! I know that people usually completely ignore OC stories, but I'm hoping to make this one popular enough that people will start reading it…Please review! I want to know how I'm doing with my writing, and if people like this story. If I see a ton of hits and only a couple of reviews, it's easy to think that people just didn't like your story and didn't bother to review…but anyway, with the first chapter, I'm sorry that I messed up with my editing, I mixed up Ethan with Percy lol…

Fyi, pic of Rosalynn on my homepage.


	3. Equine time!

Disclaimer: If I was Rick Riordian, I wouldn't have the time to write this pitiful excuse of a PJO story. So…I'm not. Okay??

**CHAPTER 3**

At first, we just stared at each other, storm grey eyes meeting dark blue. The strange girl had long blonde hair, tumbling down her shoulders in waves. All I could think was, _why in the world is she staring at me like that_?? Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Stephanie looking at us strangely. The new girl shook herself and snapped out of her 'trance.' She reached out her hand.

"My name's Annabeth Chase. I'm guessing you're my roommates?"

I shook her hand, but I stayed silent, still watching her carefully. Stephanie answered for me anyway. "Yep! I'm Stephanie Hanson, and this is Rosalynn Haydn. But she likes to be called Roz."

Annabeth gave me another creepy stare. After a few seconds she looked around and spoke again. "Okay, well, I guess the introductions are over, so I'm going to unpack."

She went to the only empty bed left, the bottom bunk. After stuffing her bags underneath, she starting pulling out her clothes and putting them in some of the drawers. One bright orange t-shirt fell from her grasp onto the bed. There were big, bold letters on the front of it which read: CAMP HALF-BLOOD.

I spoke for the first time. "What's that? Camp half-blood, I mean."

Annabeth flinched and looked up at me nervously. She laughed it off. "Oh, it's just some summer camp I went to." She quickly snatched up the t-shirt and stuffed it in the back of the drawer.

"Was it fun?"

A strange look crossed her face. "I guess. You wouldn't want to go though."

"Why not?"

"Oh, I don't know."

I've always been good at reading emotions. I could tell this new girl, Annabeth, really liked camp. Then why wasn't she willing to talk about it? And why didn't she want me to go to it?" I decided to ignore it – for now.

Annabeth looked at me again. "Do you only have one parent?"

_Okaay…just a little random. _I gave her a strange look. "Yea…why do you ask? And how did you _know?_"

Her eyes brightened. "Oh, it was just a guess. And I just wondered." She seemed a bit suspicious to me…

"Well, my dad died from a ladder accident when I was five. My mom was heartbroken – I can remember that much. I was still really little, so it all passed in a blur. My only memory of him was when he would spin me around in circles after he got home from work."

For some reason, Annabeth's eyes showed confusion. "Oh, that's too bad."

I started bringing out my bags to unpack, and the time seemed to begin to slow. The only way to describe the situation was: _awkward…_Luckily, after a few minutes Stephanie began to talk like nothing had ever happened between us all. _Thank God for extroverts! _I thought.

When we got done unpacking, Stephanie jumped up. "Now that that's over, I can give you both a tour of the campus!!" She snatched each of our hands, and ran out the door with us in tow.

First we stopped at the main office. Through the window, we saw Mr. Wizowski look around him slyly to see if anyone was watching. Then he started picking his nose. I wanted to barf. I had shaken hands with that guy. Stephanie was in fits of giggles, and Annabeth had a look of disgust on her face. "Who _is_ that guy??" she wanted to know.

Stephanie was still laughing when she somehow gasped out sarcastically, "That's Mr. Wizowski, our _**beloved**_ principle."

Annabeth hid her face with her hand to hide her smile. Then we all turned away quickly and headed toward the rest of the campus.

The rest of the 'tour' just passed in a blur, until we came to the stables. _That_ was when I really paid attention. I have never ridden a horse before in my life – but I wanted to. Really. Bad. I had a friend who I met a couple years ago who rode, and she said it was really great. She'd always talk about how fun it was. I've had an interest in anything equine ever since then. Stephanie, when she realized we were at the stables, let out a squeal.

"This is the best place yet!" she said excitedly. "I have a mare here, her name is Eclipse. Do you want to see her?"

"Sure, "I said enthusiastically.

Annabeth nodded. "Lead the way."

Stephanie shoved open the barn door as hard as she could, but it wouldn't budge. She strained and dug her feet into the ground, and I could see the muscles in her arms stand out. "Here, let me give a try," I said. This would be good.

"Thanks," Stephanie said, breathing hard.

I walked up to the door, and shoved it just a bit. It slowly glided open, revealing rows of stalls. Stephanie was staring at me open-mouthed. "_How, _did you do that??"

I grinned at her. "You were trying to shove the door downward, and it was just being pushed into the dirt. So of course it was stuck!"

She rolled her eyes. "Show off!"

We'd become good friends right away. I was happy – usually I was the 'outcast' in school. With no friends. Annabeth….I wasn't sure about Annabeth. But I'd just met her; maybe we would become good friends eventually.

I turned my attention to the stalls in front of me. Walking past a few of them, I saw horses in the shadows, some of them walking up to the front of the bars and nickering. One in particular caught my eye – a dark, storm grey mare. I strode over to get a better look, and Annabeth followed. She was pregnant; her large middle swelling enough to show she would have a foal within a few months. A small strip of white went down the length of her face, and her big brown eyes shown gentleness. I went up to her and stroke her nose through the bars. She blew warm air on my hand, and I looked up into her eye. It was interesting looking…the iris wasn't round, as I had assumed it would be, but more of a rounded rectangle. The name plate on her door said, "Delilah," in bold letters. I heard a squeal come from Stephanie, and I jumped. Turning around, I saw her at one of the other stalls, excitedly pulling at a door with a halter in her hand.

I walked up to her, and saw a black Arabian mare staring at Stephanie with loving eyes. "This," Stephanie said majestically, "is Eclipse, my mare."

She pulled open the door and put the halter on the mare, then led her horse to these ropes extending from either side of the rows of stalls, clipping her halter to them. "These are the cross-ties," Stephanie mentioned to Annabeth and I. "Basically you use these so you can groom and tack up the horses."

As she talked I noticed something else in stables…a sort of whispering in my head. It was kind of creepy – I was starting to wonder if I was still sane. First, flying horses…now this? But whenever I focused on the sound, it strangely disappeared. I shook my head to clear it, but the whispering stayed put.

"Hey, do either of you hear something?" I hoped they did – I was already strange enough with my ADD and dyslexia problems, now I hear whispering. Oh boy.

Annabeth gave me an 'are you okay' look. "Umm….no."

Stephanie glanced at me. "It's probably just one of the horses or something."

I nodded, hoping that that was true. I picked up a comb, and started combing out Eclipse's mane. As the tangles slowly disappeared, I got less and less worried about the noise in my head. It was probably just my imagination anyway.

Annabeth, Stephanie and I chatted while we pampered Eclipse, when I asked about Delilah.

"Oh, she just came here a couple years ago. She's owned by the school, so anyone can ride or groom her. Of course, she can't be ridden now for obvious reasons.

"Can I groom her?" I fervently hoped I could. I have no idea why I wanted to be around this mare so much.

"Sure, why not? Just be careful, and remember not to go directly behind her or she'll kick you." With that, she went into a room for a few moments and came out with a halter. She handed it to me, and smiled. "Just put that on her."

Annabeth opened Delilah's stall door for me, and I walked in while murmuring soft greetings to the storm grey mare. I tried to put the halter on the way Stephanie effortlessly did, but it seemed impossible. I would have it halfway on, only to realize it was on backwards, or twisted, or anything but the right way. I heard a giggle behind me, and I playfully glared at Annabeth who was trying to hide a smile. She came over to help, and between the two of us we eventually got it on. I clucked to Delilah and brought her over to the crossties. She nuzzled me as I bent over to grab a brush, and I stroked her nose. Annabeth started massaging the mare with a currycomb, and the mare closed her eyes in contentment.

I didn't understand why I felt so drawn to the mare. Sure, I liked her. She was nice. But there was just something about her, something that made me almost want to protect her. That if I didn't pay close attention to Delilah, something really bad would happen. My thoughts were interrupted when Stephanie happened to look at her watch, and she shrieked. Eclipse took a step back in surprise.

"Stephanie," I said in annoyance. "You're scaring the horses."

"Sorry, "she apologized. "But we have 15 minutes to get to first period!"

Annabeth looked up in alarm, and hurriedly starting putting Delilah away. Once Stephanie got Eclipse away, and I cleaned up all the grooming tools, we ran back to our dorm. In a way, I was relieved we were out of the stables. As soon as we left hearing distance from the barn, the whispering problem was gone. Then, somehow, we showered, got in our uniforms, and made it to first period one minute early. I was breathing hard when I came in, and so was Annabeth, who had first period with me.

When the bell rang, all the students sat in random desks. The teacher came in a few minutes later, and she grabbed a seating chart. I ended up in a desk next to the door, which made me happy. Then Annabeth ended up behind me, which made me even happier. Now I won't have guys shooting spitballs from behind me.

First hour seemed to go on and on and on and on! By the time the bell rang, I was half asleep. Annabeth had to poke me with a pencil to keep me awake, and she was laughing at my expense after class. She didn't seem to be that strange of a person anymore. I guess first impressions aren't always correct.

Second period and third period were the same way, and neither of my friends were in them. In fourth period, which was gym, both Annabeth and Stephanie were in my class. Good. Now we can all endure running laps together.

In the last period, I had band. Neither Annabeth nor Stephanie played an instrument, so I was alone. I played clarinet, so I sat in the first row on the right side, where the clarinet players sat. All that happened all hour was we received the music that got passed out, and we listened to a few jokes by the teacher, Mr. Von Scoy. By the end of the school day, I was really, really bored, and really, really thankful it was over.

As I walked up into my dorm, I was amazed that so much could happen in one day. It all centered on school…yet almost nothing happened during school hours. Everything worthwhile happened before.

I opened the door, and noticed that the girls weren't there. _I'll check the stables…_I thought. So I did. They weren't there either, but I stayed there anyway, bringing a hay bale into a clean section of Delilah's stall to sit on. Delilah poked her nose into my hand softly. Then the whispering sound happened again. I was _so_ _close_ to hearing it now, since it was nearly silent in the barn now. But like before, it just went away when I concentrated on it. I gave up, and patted Delilah's nose with my hand. I retrieved a curry comb from the tack room, and came back into the stalls to groom the mare. I felt the baby kick once or twice while I massaged Delilah, and I had to stop from squealing in delight – how cute! I still didn't understand my _obsession_ with this mare…she was just a horse. But I still was drawn to her…like some force was trying to keep me with her, to protect her from harm. I shook my head and went out of the barn. I needed to think. Once again, once I stepped out of hearing distance from the stables the whispering stopped. The only bad thing was that as soon as I stepped out of the door, my conscience basically screamed, _NO! Go back!! Keep her safe!_

I ignored it the best I could and ran back to the dorm. Ugh. The place I like most, the stables, was the place I was creeped out by the most. Weird.

Annabeth and Stephanie were both in the dorm when I walked in. Stephanie immediately started her chattering, and Annabeth smiled at me warmly. I gave a sigh of relief. Nothing weird was going on here.

Or was there something?

AN: Thank you so much for all the reviews!! I am SO SORRY for the wait!! I sort of lost my train of thought for this story, but now I'm back.  School is also _really hard_ this trimester. I absolutely despise algebra. It's funny too – just because I have a 4.0 everyone assumes I'm smart. Well, I'm not. I just work really hard, so people are really surprised when I understand algebra no more than they do.

Well. Anyway. Because of school being this hard, I'm still not going to be able to update. I'm sad to say..maybe once a month? I'll really try to do better than that, but I'm just too darn busy to write, say, once a week. But I'll try, okay? I guess I should point out a few things about the chapter – I'm not too impressed with this one, but it has some huge factors in the coming plot. Such as Delilah, and a lot of things from the stables. I'm not sure what I'll do with Stephanie in the future though…she's just a talkative mortal…but I can't just make Annabeth and Roz ditch her…I'll decide later. I'm dropping a lot of hints about who her immortal parent is…see if you can catch them.

**I will need at least 6 reviews to get the next chapter up**…And if I get more than that I'll try to get the next chapter by next week.


	4. The bully isn't so tough after all

**AN: Again, I'm going to have to say I'm sorry.**

**I'M SORRY!!**

**I feel bad that it always takes me so long to get a story updated..which is why I'm looking forward to this summer. WRITING TIME!! Hehe, by the way, I understand algebra now!! Yay!**

**DISCLAIMER: I'm not Rick Riordian, I'm a girl. Is that proof enough or what?**

**Chapter 4**

You know how at the beginning of the school year, the days drag on and on? And then when it gets further into the year, the days finally start to speed up? That seemed to be happening this year. By now, I was best friends with Stephanie, and Annabeth. Any awkwardness between any of us was gone. Instead, we could tell each other anything and everything. Well, take that back. Not _everything._ I still had my secrets, like my suspicions of being adopted. Annabeth of course had the most secrets, but I'd learned long ago that it was best not to ask her about them. But even with the secrets, I knew that any of us could trust each other with our lives. Little did I know how true that statement would become in a few months.

But back to my thoughts. If I had thought Delilah big before, she was _huge_ now. I couldn't believe she was actually able to stay standing with her middle so heavy! It was obvious she was going to drop her foal sometime this week. I now knew the stable manager for the school, and he even confirmed my suspicions. Dale, (that was his name, he was like, 40 or something) was a really nice guy. He acted sort of like a father to me, but not enough that I thought of him like one.

Walking to the stable every day had become a regular thing for me. Annabeth and Stephanie had realized this was the time where I really wanted to be alone with my thoughts, so they left me alone for an hour or so before coming to the stables themselves after school. I never said anything about it to them, but I was really grateful. And that was where I was heading now, the stables. The best thing was, Dale was letting me sleep in the stable this week, (don't worry, I still took showers every morning before school!) just to keep an eye on Delilah. Annabeth and Stephanie would be joining me. It was sort of a smelly place to have a sleepover, but I thought it was worth it.

Speaking of Delilah, I still had that sense of protection whenever I was around her. It sort of became a natural thing now, though. Same with the whispers. Now I just dismissed them as some of the horses eating their hay or something.

But as I stepped into the stable and walked over to Delilah's stall, the sense of the urgency of protecting the mare hit me like a brick wall. What in the world…I entered the stall and started brushing out the grey's mane and I found myself humming after a few minutes. My hand strayed over to the 

mare's gigantic belly, and I smiled. The foal would be _so_ adorable! I'd seen pictures..but never one up close, prancing and _alive._ I could just imagine the spark of playfulness the foal would have. I wracked my brain for names. For a boy…

_Hercules…no. yuck._

_Neptune…no. Same thing._

_Mercury? No._

_Danric?_

I couldn't even _think_ of girl names. I tried, but then the sound of the other two girls interrupted my thoughts.

Annabeth peeked inside. "Hey Roz, you in there?"

I made a "Mmhmm" sound, and the two walked inside. Stephanie stepped inside Eclipse's stall like she normally did, but Annabeth joined me and Delilah.

"Wow..she's huge!"

I grinned. "I know. I feel bad for her, that's got to be at least one hundred points of dead-weight."

Stephanie called from across the aisle. "Hey, Roz. I know you haven't ridden a horse yet. Do you want to ride Eclipse?"

I swallowed the butterflies that had come out of nowhere and into my stomach. "Um..sure.." After all this _was_ what I had always wanted to do, right?

Stephanie quickly tacked Eclipse up and the Arabian tossed her head indignantly. All of a sudden she seemed a _lot _bigger than she actually was. I stared up at the animal when Stephanie pushed the reins into my hand. "Lead her into the arena."

The arena was adjacent to the stables, right through another set of doors at the other side than the entrance. Annabeth opened the heavy doors for me and I led the black mare through them. If I was nervous before, I was _really_ nervous now. I hoped I didn't show it. Stephanie gave me a leg up and I somehow wiggled around until I was in somewhat the right position in the saddle. A wave of nausea hit me when I looked down – the ground seemed to be at least 10 feet away. Dirt or not, it would hurt when I fell on it. I bit back a bitter laugh. Yes, the word was _when, _not _if._

Stephanie gave me a reassuring smile. "Okay. All you have to do, is squeeze with your legs like Eclipse is a tube of toothpaste, and she'll move."

Clearly she hadn't paid attention all year to the mess I made at the bathroom sink every time I brushed my teeth.

But I did what she told me to. I squeezed Eclipse as hard as I could and she went off running. My eyes opened wide as she started to canter, and I could feel my face turning white. I clenched my legs against the horse, trying to stay on. It just made her go even faster.

Faintly, I heard Annabeth talking to me calmly, as if nothing was wrong. I would have rolled my eyes if I wasn't on the back of a rampaging beast.

"Roz, stop telling her to go faster, and pull the rein in your right hand to the right to turn her in small circles…There you go. Keep doing it."

I gave a sigh of relief when the horse started to go slower. I guess a horse wasn't like a dog – it couldn't keep running in small circles. "Annabeth, where did you learn how to ride?"

"Oh, a friend taught me a few summers ago." She dismissed the subject. "Now do you want to stay on or not?"

I gave a hard glare at the wild beast below me. "I'll stay on. I'm going to learn how to ride no matter what it takes."

And so the lesson continued. I learned how to post to the trot (which made staying on a _lot_ easier), to walk, and I did a little cantering at the end. At first the cantering was a bit scary because of my first experience, but I got the hang of it after awhile. Of course it didn't look pretty...I probably looked like a sack of potatoes bouncing up and down. But I stayed on. _That_ was what I was proud of.

So life was going really well. Surprisingly, I hadn't been bullied all year. Well that was about to change.

And it did: on our field trip to the museum a few days later. There was a bully at our school, she was actually pretty quiet, but people were still scared of her. She had black hair, black eyes, and muscles the size of a bulls. In other words – she was really scary. Whenever she walked down the halls at school, everyone backed away from her like she had a disease or something. She didn't really ever pick on me, basically because Stephanie and had helped Annabeth and I climb up the ranks of popularity, she being the extrovert she was. But for some reason, she started to on that day. "Blister," as she wanted to be called, had been giving me those _I'm going to kill you_ looks on the ride there…so she was kind of freaking me out. Just kind of.

Stephanie wasn't able to help "protect" me today. She was sick, so she stayed locked up in the nurse's office. I guess picking on Stephanie was considered uncool or something, because no one had ever bothered me until this point. Not like I needed to be protected, especially now. It had been an all-nighter last night, and I was a grouch. Annabeth had realized this, so she for the most part helped keep my temper in check, and gave me space when I needed it. That worked until lunch.

I was filling my water bottle at the drinking fountain when Blister came up and tried to stuff me in the nearest trash can. Naturally, I exploded. All that grouchiness had builded up until the breaking point…unfortunately Blister would get the brunt of it. I gripped the water bottle, and threw the water 

inside at her using the bottle. Immediately she started to scream, and she ran away and told the teacher.

It seems as if the bully turned into a tattletale..typical. I rolled my eyes. It was cold water. Big whoop. But when she turned around to point at me…I realized I had hurt her. Well, maybe not _hurt_ her. But I probably inflicted a little pain, because her face was bright red as if someone had slapped her. I was in BIG trouble now.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the random kids looking from me to Blister, and snickering. You know, that _haha, she beat up the bully! _sort of thing. But then I happened to see Silena, the air-head, run to Annabeth. They started whispering in hushed voices and pointing at me. Annabeth caught my eye, and I moodily glared at her. _Telling secrets, are we?_

"MISS HAYDN??" the teacher growled. Uh oh.

I proudly walked up. I still had my dignity, so I could show it. "Miss Bartell, she tried to put me in a trash can. It's something called self-defense."

Miss Bartell, the English teacher, looked at me closely. "So you _slapped_ her??"

"What??" I shook my head confused. "I just poured water on her. It couldn't have hurt her!"

Bartell shook her head. "Just don't do it again." Her mouth unexpectedly quirked, in an amused way. "Although to tell you the truth, I'd have done the same."

"So no detention then??" I questioned hopefully.

"No, not this time." She gave me a stern glance. "But don't do it again."

I turned and went back to the drinking fountain to refill my water bottle again, and once again saw Annabeth and Silena whispering so I walked over.

Silena's voice was loud enough that I could hear. She was a _bad_ whisperer. "It looked like she slapped her!"

Annabeth hushed her when she caught sight of me coming up to them. "Hey Roz, this is Silena. You haven't met her yet. Silena, Roz."

I fought the urge to snicker, and I most gratefully won. The definition of Silena by Stephanie was still fresh in my mind. "Um…hi Silena."

She flipped her long red hair back. "Hi. I seem to recognize you from somewhere…but I can't quite remember where."

"Ah..I'm pretty sure I don't know you."

A confused look crossed her face. Oh no. Not _that_ again. I didn't need another repeat of Annabeth."But you're so…no, never mind."

I think she was about to continue on, because she was still staring at my face, trying to see how it was familiar, but she dropped the subject when some random kid barreled into her. She fell, but was up in a matter of seconds. She dusted herself off, and shrieked when she examined her nails.

She had broken a nail. A perfect, manicured nail.

Annabeth and I snickered, but we stopped when Silena looked at us again.

"It took me _forever_ to get my nails done!"

**AN: This chapter might me incomplete at the end…and maybe not. But I couldn't think of a better way to end it, so it stopped with poor Silena. And poor Roz..She couldn't figure out how to ride that wild beast of a horse! I'm trying to think of foal names for Delilah's baby…feel free to give me ideas. (For a boy or a girl, or both.) I barely revised this, so sorry for mistakes. But it's really late at night..so..yeah.**

**Again, sorry for the wait!**


	5. A horse who's not really a horse

**Chapter 5!!**

**AN: I can't believe I'm already this far!! Lol, I'm excited for this new chapter..it's sort of the turning point. Definitely not the climax, but it's when stuff starts to happen. Hopefully the wait wasn't too long this time. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 5**

The months were passing relatively quickly. I had a lot of stuff to do, like homework, friends, horses…the list went on. It seems that when you're busy and having fun, time flies. And this whole while, Delilah kept getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger until now.

And _now_ was her time.

I had walked into the stable to groom her and let out my daily stress, when I could hear groans of pain. I inched closer to her door, and I could see her pacing in the stall. Then, suddenly, she went down to the floor and started rolling and stuff. I didn't know what to do…I'd never helped anyone…well..give _birth._ And the idea of helping didn't bode well with me.

But I knew I'd have to do it if problems happened. The guy in charge of the stables was conveniently on vacation, and who knew where Stephanie and Annabeth were. I mentally slapped myself for forgetting my cell phone in my dorm. "Emergency ONLY." Or at least that was what my mom said. So I never really carried it around. _Now_ I was regretting that.

I pulled up a chair to Delilah's stall. This would take awhile, but I still didn't have the time to get my friends. Delilah could have problems in that short amount of time, and the foal, or even Delilah herself, could die. And I most definitely would _not_ leave her.

So I sat there, for about a half an hour while watching Delilah. Sweat coated her, turning her dark grey hair almost black. It almost broke my heart to see the poor horse in such discomfort…but then, what could I do?? I'd seen veterinarians help by…well…sticking their hands _in._ I would only do that if I had to.

I sat there for another few hours, when finally Delilah's work paid off. I could see a little foal sticking out_._ Yuck. But anyway, it was kind of cool to see new life like that. I was the very first person ever to see the foal. I grinned at the thought, and I watched as the rest of it came out. The only thing I could really tell was that it was a big black shiny blob. Amazed, I kept watching as it broke through the shiny thing and Delilah tiredly got up to lick it clean.

I couldn't really tell what gender the foal was, _yet._ Delilah didn't seem to care. She just kept licking the black foal lying in the straw, and finally she prodded it to get up. I looked closer. Its eyes were open! They were little dark brown orbs, with a clearness that said the foal would be really smart. It had a little white mark on its forehead, and it shone out against the black around it like a star. The little one tried to stand, and Delilah tried her best to help it up. I suppressed a giggle when it abruptly fell down. Not to be 

defeated, the foal once again tried to stand, but fell. It tried a few more times, until finally it got up and spread its legs wide to keep its balance. The foal looked down to make sure it really _was_ up, and it had the cutest expression on its face – the one of triumph.

Delilah moved towards its side, and the mother-foal stuff started to take place. You know…the feeding. Yeah, you get the idea.

Whatever the case, the milk gave the foal a lot of energy, because it gave a little whinny and stretched. I looked closer…there was something on its back. Or two somethings anyway.

Again it gave a little snort, and to my amazement, it sneezed and out flew two little delicate black wings. My jaw dropped open, and stayed that way for quite a bit of time.

Delilah's foal had…wings?? How was _that_ possible?

Stephanie and Annabeth found me a few hours later, still gawking at the sight in front of me. A little black flying horse. Now I could tell it was a boy, and he, although cute, was really starting to scare me. He was a freak of nature, or at least as much as I could tell.

When Stephanie saw him, she gave him a hard stare, and then she gasped. "Annabeth…why does it have _wings?_"

Annabeth had followed a little behind, and for some reason she was looking down. She did that a lot when she was thinking. I think it was past memories or something. Or maybe a boy?? Her head shot up when she heard Stephanie, and she quickly walked over. "What??"

"See for yourself." My voice cracked at the end, but no one paid attention.

Annabeth studied the colt carefully, her eyes running from the little face to the star on its forehead, then down its little tufts of hair that was his mane, till finally her eyes rested on his wings. As if knowing he was being stared at, the black colt gave a little indignant rear and his wings flew out. They caused unwanted momentum, and he fell to the ground in a tumble of legs and wings. He mustered up his strength and got up with the little pride he still had. He gave us all a look that said, _you didn't see ANY of that._

Then he turned away to eat.

"Annabeth…" I began in a shaky voice. "Why does he have wings?"

She sighed. She seemed a lot less shaken than Stephanie and I. "Trust me. It's not that big of a deal. A rare occurrence, yes. But it's nothing to tell the police about or anything."

Stephanie watched it carefully, and noted, "Well, if anyone finds it…they're going to put it up in some freak show or something."

I wanted to question Annabeth further…why wasn't she surprised? But I decided to deal with that problem later. Right now I had a gut instinct that I thought I needed to follow. "You guys, we need to hide it. Stephanie's right. We can't let anyone find it. We're the only ones who could keep it safe."

Annabeth shot a look at the foal, and muttered in a voice that she thought no one could hear, "Not the only ones."

Stephanie turned to her. "What?"

"Oh. Nothing."

"Annabeth." I gave her a look. "If there's someone who can help, you need to tell us about them. It's not as if we could hide this thing in our dorm." I briefly thought of Ethan. Could he help? But then again, he might just bring me to the asylum or something. So I pushed him out of my mind.

Annabeth sighed. "Well, there are a few people, actually. I'll call someone tonight, okay? But we still need to hide the foal, and probably Delilah too. A newborn foal wouldn't survive on its own."

I watched her. "Are you saying…."

"Yea. We need to kidnap them."

Stephanie choked, and then started laughing, _hard._ The colt inside the stall let out a squeal, and hid behind his mother. "Are you serious? We can't just steal them! We'd get in BIG trouble, and at least get kicked out of the school." She must've not been paying attention for the past minute or something, because that had been the very thing we were planning. Whatever, I'd just remind her again.

"Well, it's either that, or our winged horsy friend gets put in some freak show."

Stephanie furrowed her brows and sighed. "Well, where in the world are we going to keep two horses?"

Annabeth put on her "thinking look", and stayed silent for a minute or two. Then a look of triumph crossed her face. "I know! We can hide them in the forest out behind the school. Then we can look after them. But we've got to make them a shelter quickly. We've wasted a lot of time arguing."

Stephanie and I agreed, so we ran back into the forest behind the stable and started making a shelter out of brush. I really doubted this would hold two horses, but I guessed Annabeth knew how to make a good shelter or something because she was making it work.

"You guys grab the horses while I finish this," she told us. "This" was a pile of brush sitting on the ground. How she would do anything with it in the short amount of time we had, I had no idea. But we listened to her.

Running back, we grabbed Delilah's halter and a little piece of soft rope for the foal. Stephanie handed me the halter, and she entered the stall and somehow fashioned the rope into a halter and put it around the spooked foal's head. Then she grabbed the halter from me and put it on Delilah. Lucky for us, Delilah wasn't one of those protective mares, because she just let us lead them out of the stall despite the squealing protests from the colt next to her.

"Grab the colt," Stephanie said simply. So I did. But grabbing the rope attached to him was no easy thing-he kept jumping around. But finally, I snagged him and led him over to Annabeth's shelter.

I almost laughed when I saw it. In about two minutes, a big pile of brush had been made into a safe, bug-proof shelter big enough for a mother and foal. I had no idea how she'd done it, but neither me nor Stephanie said anything as we led the horses into the shelter.

Annabeth came in right behind us. "We're going to have to bring them food and water every day, and we'll need to check up on them a _lot._"

I sat down as Stephanie tied the horses to a little post that Annabeth had stuck in the ground. "And how are we going to do that? We have school all week, and if we're gone all weekend, people are going to notice."

The grey-eyed girl bit her lip. "Well, there's before school...and after school of course. Saturday and Sunday we can just pretend that we're going to the stables. But we'll have to make sure we're still around the rest of the students a lot too, or there'll be too much suspicion."

I was pretty sure that was basically what I'd just said, but I ignored it. Stephanie interrupted my thoughts.

"Annabeth, I hope you're still going to call someone. This is a quiet time of the year, when there's not too much to study for or anything. But what are we going to do when there's finals? We'll either fail all of them, or neglect Delilah. We can't afford either of those things.

Annabeth got a wary look in her grey eyes, but the look was kind of excited too. "Yea, I'll call someone. I think I know just who can help. He happens to be an expert with horses."

I grinned. "Is this guy your age?"

"Well, yes."

"Is he nice?"

"Sure."

"Is he talented?"

"I guess...sort of."

"Is he good looking?"

"Um..sure…"

"Do you _like_ him?" I prodded her in the ribs.

"What kind of question is THAT?" Annabeth demanded. She got up and made herself busy with tidying up the shelter.

"Ooohhh….Annabeth _likes_ someone!" I said teasingly. Stephanie looked from me to the angry grey-eyed girl, and she snickered.

Annabeth's eyes flashed. "I do NOT like him! He's a friend!"

"Okay Annabeth, it's okay. You don't need to have any theatrics."

She rolled her eyes, and stomped out the door, probably heading to the dorm to clean up.

Stephanie looked at me for a moment, and we burst out laughing. "Well," I said. "Our single friend shouldn't stay single for much longer!"

The horses looked at us questioningly at our hysterics, and we quieted down to not be discovered. We were only about a mile into the woods; people could probably still be in hearing range.

I got up and went over to the colt, stroking his back. He arched his spine like a cat and made a contented sound, almost like a cat purr. I touched his wings, and studied the tiny little feathers covering them. They were really soft, like down. The little colt turned around and nuzzled me affectionately. He liked people more than I expected, he was never scared of us for an instant.

Stephanie came over to us, and she started petting him too. "What should we name him?"

"Hmm…" I thought of weird letter combinations. He needed something really unique. "How about..Tllenen?"

All of a sudden, something really creepy happened. I heard a _no. _I cocked my head and looked at Stephanie. "Did you say something?"

"Um…no. Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure…" I gave her a wry look.

_No. Not Tllenen. _

I looked at the foal. "Was that _you?_"

_Yes._

I watched him in amazement. "What is your name, then?"

Stephanie looked at me in confusion. "Is he _talking_ to you?"

I gulped. "Yes."

She gave him a nervous smile. "Why can't he talk to me?"

"I'm not sure."

_I'm not sure either. But I can talk to you. My mom tries, but she can't reach you._

That confused me. But I dismissed it. "So what's your name?"

He thought for a minute. _My name is Zvaze. _

"Doesn't your mom name you?"

_No. Sons and daughters of Pegasus are given their names by the Fates. They also give us intelligence, which is why I'm not speaking like one of your human babies right now._

This confused me too. But no matter, at least I knew his name. I looked at Stephanie. "Well, he says his name is Zvaze."

She laughed. "So he named himself?"

"I guess. But what I'm wondering is why you're not screaming and running away right now. He's a winged horse…and you're just taking in everything like you knew it all before. It's like you're not surprised at all."

She swallowed. "Well Roz, the thing is, I've always seen too much than what was good for me. I've seen a lot of weird things in the past, even now I still see things. I'm not crazy or anything, but I see stuff that's in mythology. I saw the bull thing a few years ago, and _that_ really scared me. But now since Zvaze is here, I'm sure I'm not just hallucinating. Do you understand?"

"Sort of. But why haven't I seen anything of that?"

"I don't know. Everything is so confusing now…but it'll end up okay. For example, now we have a winged horse. He can take us for rides when he's bigger, and we can fly!"

Zvaze looked at us skeptically. _Don't depend on that. _

"Well, why ever not??" I demanded.

He gave us a smug look. _You might get bucked off before you fly. Ever thought that I might not want to be ridden?_

I narrowed my eyebrows. "But you will give us rides, right?"

_Maybe._

Stephanie stretched her legs. "Roz, you were talking about why I'm not scared out of my wits...but what about you? You didn't run away screaming either."

I looked down at my hands. "I don't know. It surprised me, but not enough to scare me, you know?"

"Yeah. That's basically how I felt." I looked up at her, and her light brown eyes twinkled.

"What??" I looked at her closely.

"Hmm?"

"Oh never mind." She had looked like she was amused…but whatever. "We should probably get back to Annabeth." Who knew where she was. She was probably still mad since I said she liked someone.

Stephanie grinned. "Okay."

We gave a last check on the horses, and I said bye to Zvaze.

_Goodbye._

His aristocratic kind of accent scared me...I mean, come on. He was a _baby._ So why didn't he talk like one? His voice still was like that of a child's, instead of the deeper one that would probably come with age. But still.

Once we got back to the dorm rooms, for some reason Stephanie warned me to be quiet.

"Why?"

She grinned evilly. "Believe me. She'll probably be doing something interesting having to do with that boy, but she'll stop once she knows we're coming."

So we crept down the hallway leading to the room, and once we got to the closed door, we tried our best to look through the peephole. Have you ever done that in a hotel? Look through a peephole the opposite way? Well, let me tell you. It doesn't work.

So Stephanie quietly opened the door a crack, and we saw Annabeth sitting on her bed. She was just sitting there, staring at something in her hands. A wistful look was shining in her eyes, sort of a sad look with a lot of memories, and a lot of regret. We crept in the room, and surprisingly our friend didn't notice us.

All of a sudden, Stephanie crouched and tensed like a lioness that sees her prey, and she leapt up and snatched the photo from Annabeth. She laughed and looked at it. Her eyes widened.

"Whoa! Annabeth! You have got a _taste for guys!_ Hot – tie!" She stressed the different syllables. Annabeth's face shone bright red. She looked like a cherry. A very angry cherry with grey eyes that looked like she wanted to murder someone.

She clenched her teeth. "Steph. Give. It. Back."

She was starting to scare me, but I still wanted to see the guy. So I grabbed the photo and stared at it.

A boy was in it, and the background was somewhere in the city. He had a smug grin in it – smug but really happy and kind. He had black hair, and piercing green eyes. His skin was really tan, as if he had spent a whole summer on the beach, and he was wearing an orange shirt.

But his features weren't what made my mouth drop open.

Annabeth snatched his photo away from me and quickly hid it. But it didn't change anything about what I'd just seen. My mouth still hung open with amazement. I'm surprised that flies didn't make themselves at home or anything.

The boy in that picture looked like…..

Me.

**AN: One of the longest chapters I've ever written! - lol, but I loved every minute of it. I think I'm really getting attached to this story…I'll be sad when it's over. Whatever the case, I hope you like it. I did have the horsy section really long, if it bored anyone, I apologize. Being a horselover makes you do stuff like that. Thankyou so much for all the reviews!! Keep them coming! And the best thing is that tomorrow is basically my last day of school, (I'm not counting Valley Fair), and after that it's summer!**

**Review review review!!**


	6. I kind of meet Annabeth's boyfriend

**AN: yay! Next chapter! Fun fun…enjoy. Sorry about the wait, I had a little bit of a writer's block. Okay, maybe not a **_**little**_** one…more like a huge one!**

**Disclaimer: No. I'm NOT Rick Riordian, and I never will be, because I'm a GIRL. And I'm, what, 20 years (at least) younger than him? So, no. Percy Jackson and any of all those other adored characters do NOT belong to me. Yea, I wish. But, Roz, Stephanie, and Zvase are MINE, so don't steal. ;-)**

**Chapter 6**

I didn't confront Annabeth about the boy until a few days later. I tried, but I wanted to catch her alone, and I think she realized that. So she was careful to always be with Stephanie, and sometimes, even with Silena. Stephanie didn't seem to mind, being the extrovert that she was. Seriously, that girl could probably talk someone's head off if she really tried. Though I didn't mind, and neither did Annabeth.

Finally, I cornered her.

She was in the dorm, when I finally caught her alone. I wasn't sure why she was there in the first place, but no matter. We needed a little talk. I marched in and closed the door, putting my back to it. The hard wood was kind of uncomfortable, but I guess that was the price to pay for a confession from her.

Annabeth looked up at me, her grey eyes confused. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a messy bun, and then I realized she was a lot prettier than she said or thought she was. Not that it mattered to me –you know, I was a _girl_. "What's up, Roz?"

"Oh nothing. Just the fact that the boy you _like_," I snickered when she glared at me, "looks like a _male version_ of ME! And I would like to know why." Okay, so I was yelling. Well, sort of. Not to be mean or anything, but I was frustrated and really confused.

Annabeth gave me the evil eye. "I do _not_ like him!"

"Sure you don't," I said with a smug grin. "But whatever the case, I want to know why he looks like me."

"Could we talk about this later?"

I rolled my eyes. "I've _already_ been waiting to talk about this. For _three days_, Annabeth. Think about if you were me. Wouldn't _you_ want to know what's going on?"

She looked down at her hands.

"I thought so." I looked at her closely. "Have you even called him yet?"

"No."

I rolled my eyes again, exasperated. "Come on, Annabeth. If you like him, you need to call him. Besides. He can help us ship Zvaze out of here."

"I will tonight."

"How about right now?"

"Right _now!_ No way, Roz! I need to think about what I want to say!" A worried look crossed her face.

"What happened between the two of you?" I asked softly. I've always been pretty good about reading people's emotions – and Annabeth was most certainly nervous to talk to, or see, this guy.

"An awkward goodbye. I haven't spoken to him since."

I tried to think about what she meant, but failed. Which happened a lot – it wasn't a new thing. So I gave up. "What's his name?"

"Percy."

I snorted in laughter. "Percy? Is he some tea-drinking Englishman?"

Now Annabeth looked annoyed. "No! It's short for Perseus."

"Oh. So he's some toga-wearing Greek."

"Wrong again….well, half wrong anyway." She stretched her arms.

"What do you mean?" I said, confused.

"His dad is Greek. His mom is from New York. Happy?"

"Um…sure." I frantically tried to think of something to say since the conversation was getting a bit pointless. Where was Stephanie when you needed her?? "Well, that's all I wanted to know. I guess I'll see you later." It wasn't _all_ what I wanted to know. But it was a lot more information than I thought I would've gotten, and the fact that this Percy looked like me could wait.

"Sure." Now she was digging around in her bag with a determined look on her face. "See you." She said it like an invitation to 'go away.'

"Uh huh." I opened the door and walked out. But I only closed it a crack. Man, Stephanie and I were doing a lot of eavesdropping lately. I watched as she kept digging around in her backpack until she pulled out…a gold coin? Where'd she get one of those? She also took out a prism out of the bag, and she set it on the window so the sun shone through it – creating a rainbow on the wall. Then, well, the next part surprised me. She threw the coin into the rainbow.

And to my surprise, it disappeared.

I blinked, hard. But there was still no coin that dropped on the other side of the room. Mist started to spread around, but just around the little rainbow. I peered closer, cautiously opening the door a bit more. But then Annabeth started to say something, and I pulled it back.

"Oh goddess, accept my offering."

Okay. I didn't know much about religion…but what I _did_ know was that there was no "goddesses." I think Annabeth needs some counseling.

"Show me Percy Jackson, in Manhattan, New York." She looked nervous before, but now she put on her brave face.

The mist spread around even more than it already was, and now I could see someone appear in it. I almost gasped, but I quickly stopped myself. Annabeth would surely hear. This guy looked like the guy in the picture, except now he seemed more…stressed maybe? Or maybe tired was the word. He seemed to be doing some homework in his bedroom – or at least, he was trying too. Every ten seconds or so, he would grab something else and start playing with it. Then he would shake his head and start his homework again. It was a lot like how I did my schoolwork.

All of a sudden he turned around and saw Annabeth. He seemed startled at first, and then he relaxed, and a curious look came to his eye. "Annabeth?"

Annabeth sighed. "Hey Percy."

"What's up? Is something wrong?" I could see genuine concern in his eyes. Annabeth was pretty lucky to have a guy like this – he didn't seem shallow at all.

"Sort of, I guess. You know that I'm at a boarding school now, right?"

"Yeah. Something about San Francisco being too infested or something…"

"Well, you see, the school has a stable on campus. And a few days ago, a Pegasus was born. If he stays for much longer, some mortal is going to find him."

Wait...what? Mortal? I shook my head, confused.

"Is he hidden?" He ran his hands through his black hair.

Annabeth nodded.

"So you want me to get him," Percy guessed, and he dropped his hands. "How?"

"Well…I don't know. Couldn't you get Blackjack to come over or something? Maybe he could guide the foal to camp…"

"I could try. But I've never called him from this far away."

"Try iris-messaging him." Annabeth leaned back.

"Iris-message a horse??" Percy laughed, and Annabeth grinned. Aww…they were so cute together! "I guess it would work. I'll try it tonight…"

"Thanks." Annabeth smiled gratefully.

"Okay. Anyway, I guess I'll see you this summer…" Percy started to wave a hand through the rainbow, but Annabeth stopped him.

"Wait! I think I have a half-blood, too."

"Well." Percy grinned and dropped his hand, then leaned back into his chair. "You've had a much more exciting year than me, apparently."

"I guess so," Annabeth replied. "Whatever the case, she's a girl. She has the standard ADD and dyslexia. And she's powerful, or so it seems."

"Big three?" Whatever _that_ meant.

Annabeth swallowed, and looked down. "I think so."

Percy looked down, and he stared at his hands. Then he looked up and said, "Any attacks yet?" His gaze was sort of troubled, and concerned.

She shook her head. "Surprisingly, no. Nothing. It's really confusing."

"Hmm…" Percy's eyes flickered. "You've had a much more lucky time than me. I've had three already, and we're only half-way into the school year. Other than that, it's just homework, homework, and more homework…" He rolled his eyes. "And this year, Paul and my mom are actually making me do it."

Annabeth smiled. "Well, that's basically the way it is for me…except the monsters, of course."

Percy snorted. "Lucky."

"Sort of – it makes me wonder if someone's watching us, and ordering all the monsters away. It's a scary thought." Annabeth's eyes widened, as if she just realized what she had just said and what it meant for all of us. "Man…"

"That _would_ be bad," Percy pointed out helpfully. "You could always call Chiron, he could help."

"Maybe…" Annabeth considered it, and then shook her head. "It's not bad enough yet. If he's genuinely concerned, he would come up here as a teacher, and that would leave that camp unguarded."

"Mr. D would be there."

"Do you honestly believe that he would save the camp if need be?" Annabeth leaned forward in disbelief.

"I don't know. To tell you the truth, I think he's more concerned than he lets on. But then again…well, I just don't know." He looked perplexed, like this guy was really hard to define. "He _did_ help Chris, and when he talked to me…he seemed sort of concerned about Nico."

"Sort of…."Annabeth trailed off. "Well, how about this? If we have a really, really serious monster attack, and Roz is in real danger, we'll call Chiron and ship her out of here."

"Sounds good to me," Percy replied. Annabeth started to say something else, but I made the mistake of shifting my weight to my other leg and the door creaked as I moved. I swore under my breath as Annabeth quickly looked up. Aw, crap.

"I gotta go," she hissed to Percy, and she waved a hand through the mist, resulting in it breaking up as Percy faded away. Meanwhile, I stepped back into the bathrooms next door as quietly as I could, closing one of the stall doors behind me. I heard the creak of the door as she looked out into the hallway, and then it creaked again as it closed. I knew if I tried to spy on her again, she'd find me – and I'd be in for it. So I made my way to the horses' makeshift shelter in the woods. Surprisingly, Stephanie wasn't there, and she had taken Delilah where ever she had gone, probably for a ride. Zvase was left there, though, obviously because of his big, raven's wings.

_Roz,_ the foal said happily. I smiled at him, and sat down.

"Hey little guy. And how are you doing? Where did Stephanie and your Mom go?"

_I'm fine, and they went for a ride. By the way, I'm __**not**__a "little guy."_He gave me the closest thing to a death glare he could make, and it made me chuckle.

"Fine, fine."

We just sat there for awhile, neither of us having anything to say or do. Finally, I took out a brush and sat next to him, and started brushing out his shiny ebony coat. Zvase lowered his eyelids in bliss, and we stayed silent for ten minutes or so when his ears suddenly pricked, and his eyes shot open in alarm.

_Someone's coming. _He quickly stood up, knocking the brush out of my hand.

"It's probably just Stephanie or Annabeth," I replied nonchalantly. It wasn't something to worry about, I thought as I groped behind him for the brush.

_No…whatever it is, it's not human._

"Zvase, what in the world do you mean?" The term 'horse-crazy' was taking on a new meaning...

_I mean, it's not human! Run! _He shot out the door and into the forest like a black lightning bolt, leaving me to grab my backpack and sprint after him.

"Zvase! Zvase!" I yelled while thinking, _this is just STUPID! _Suddenly, things got even weirder. I heard this huge growl behind me, and as I turned around it seemed that everything went dark. _Okay then…things are getting just a bit creepy…_

Then I heard a whinny behind me, and I whipped around to glare at Zvase, whose eyes widened. "Where were you?" I demanded angrily. "Why did you run off?!"

His terrified answer was: _look out!!_

I turned around again to see a hummer-sized lion towering over me – no, not a lion. This thing was a lion with a second goats head, and instead of a normal lion's tail, it had a snake with a head on the end. Mainly, my only thought was: _uh oh, _as it lunged for me…

**AN: haha, now this is an actual cliff-hanger…again, sorry for the wait and any mistakes I missed.**

**:D and thanks for all the reviews asking for more! They made my day!**


	7. My life takes a turn for the worse

**CHAPTER 7**

**AN: Ok, I know it's not an excuse but the reason I didn't update for so long was because I was all out of muse. I had no interest in this story any more even though I have a plot all laid out, then today when I forced myself to sit down and start this, a new idea came to me and I think it's awesome! I'm going to start a poll about the next chapters too which probably concern most of you, so I'll make a note about it on the bottom of the chapter. Thanks for sticking with me all this time, even with the breaks between chapters!! Hope you enjoy this one!**

I remember a while ago…well, actually only a few months ago, but still. Anyway, a few months ago I woke up in the middle of the night to some strange, muffled noise in the room. I had opened my eyes in exhausted confusion, bleakly remembering the final I had studied for hours for right before bed. Stephanie was still sleeping, snoring softly like she usually did. But Annabeth was tossing and turning, and as I got out of bed to see what was wrong she started talking again, in her sleep. It had happened before, plenty of times before. I would've just gone back to sleep after realizing that as this was a normal thing, but what she was talking _about_ intrigued me. It was that Percy kid. She kept calling his name, and saying "Where are you!?" Then, "Percy, no!! Chimera!" Salty tears started leaking from her eyes, and I had a feeling the guy she liked just died. From…a chimera? Those didn't even exist, or at least that's what I thought at the time. We had studied Greek in eighth grade, so I knew a little about it, enough to know that a chimera was some lion thing with a goat head and a snake tail, besides the normal lion head. Suddenly, she just relaxed and muttered, "Percy, you're safe." Or something along those lines. Her voice was so quiet it was hard to tell. So after she quieted down I went back to bed and a dreamless sleep overcame me.

I remembered all that in a flash. I forgot it just as soon when the thing in front of me roared, and flickered in and out of sight. I stepped to the side as I heard paw's land heavily on the ground from where I was standing before. My eyes narrowed, searching (without finding) the body of the thing that probably wanted to eat me. Then I heard a woman's voice, and as I listened closer I could hear cackling. Well, that didn't sound very good, did it?

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! Oh, this is great. Yes, I know who you are, Rosalyn Miranda Haydn. You know, Percy may have escaped my clutches, but now that you're here he doesn't matter anymore. Now I have another demigod for our plans." The witch chuckled again, her laugh sounded horrible, almost like grinding rocks. Okay, now I've met another crazed psycho to add to the list. Just great. And she knows my name, and I have no idea how.

So I ran. Pretty normal, right? Any sane person would've done it. In the end I wish I hadn't. Bad decision there, as soon as I took five steps I heard a roar and the chimera, after he flickered back into sight, pinned me down on the ground with humongous paws. I looked up at him, my green eyes wide. He stared back with a dangerous light shining in his eyes, and he leaned down and roared in my face. His claws started tearing both the skin on my shoulders and my t-shirt to shreds, and I moaned in pain. Even worse, amazingly, than the pain was the breath. Oh!! It smelled horrible. Think of the smelliest, grossest thing that has _ever_ reached your nose and this was a thousand times worse. Obviously this guy hadn't brushed his teeth as often as the dentist recommends. And if I was that dentist (which I would desperately hope I wouldn't be) I would tell him to brush his teeth _at least _ten times daily. The stink was almost enough to feel faint, but yeah right. You think I'd do that in a situation like this? Nobody was going to do anything to me without a fight.

I tried squirming out of the beast's weight, but that didn't work so I moved my leg and kicked him as hard as I could. It didn't do anything other than get the thing annoyed. Like I needed _that._ A snake suddenly flickered in the corner of my eye, and I watched as it came closer. I hoped it wasn't poisonous, because if it was I was done for. The woman laughed again as she came into view. Sort of – she was still in the shadows of the trees, and the darkness still engulfed her lower half. "No, Sonny. Not just yet. We've got some…_friends_…who're going to deal with this one. And they want her alive." I briefly wondered what that meant, when the woman stepped closer to me, and I gasped. The lower half of her body was busy switching between a long serpent's tail and a woman's legs. Her eyes were narrowed evilly, and a huge grin was plastered across her face surrounded by long brunette hair, that curled in the way of famous people (think Jordin Sparks' hair). She would be able to be called beautiful if it wasn't for the bottom half issue.

_NO!! ROSALYN!!_

As soon as I heard him, I knew I didn't want Zvase to show himself. This strange pair would capture him just like they had me, so I tried as hard as I could to think my answer to him. Honestly, I didn't think it would work. I thought it was only a one-way connection. But apparently not, because when I thought _'go get Annabeth' _as hard as I could I heard small hoof beats quickly galloping away, towards the campus. But I wasn't the only one to hear them.

"Sonny, go get the Pegasus. He could turn out to be valuable." With a grunt, the chimera ran away, his profile still flickering.

"He turns invisible then..." I said to myself under my breath.

"No, it's the mist," the creepy lady said. Like I knew what the mist was. What was it, anyway?

Turning all of my attention over to the lady, I narrowed my eyes and growled, "So who do you think you are to try and capture me like this?? Go away and get a life, it'll do us all some good."

"You know, I would if I didn't already have one. But you have spunk, wench. Perhaps my cohorts will not be able to break you, but I doubt it. I'm Echidna, by the way. You're worst nightmare." She cocked her head, and a wave of dark hair swished to the side. "Ooh…I like how that sounds. I should add that to the end of all my evil statements."

I had the fleeting thought of the anteater thing that was called Echidna somewhere in Australia or something like that, but it passed as I wondered what she meant by her "cohorts" breaking me. That didn't sound too nice. So once again, I burst into a run and sprinted away. This _Echidna_ was alone; she wouldn't be able to catch me, would she? I had always been pretty fast anyway. But the monster-woman slithered after me lightning speed while picking up a heavy branch laying on the ground, and once she reached me (which didn't take long at all) she whacked me on the head with it, like she would a pinata. To say it in the least, it really hurt. Black spots crowded out my vision until I fell on the ground, unconscious.

A while later, I woke up, dazed. I kept my eyes closed, the only thing I could do to try to concentrate through the pain caused by the bump on the back of my head. My hands were tied now, and I started cursing in my head. Why? Why me? What in the world did I do to become captured by mutant _things?_ Even more, I wondered why I didn't bring along pepper spray or some kind of weapon like that. Pepper spray _did_ work on weird Greek creatures…didn't it? My head hurt too much to think about it, and I leaned back slowly to feel a leather seat behind me. A few minutes passed by eventless and I started wondering if this whole ordeal had just been some stupid nightmare after a pretty hard test and Stephanie was probably playing some practical joke on me by tying me up. The bump on my head was probably by me just being clumsy – maybe I fell off the top bunk. Yeah, that was it. It all made sense now! With a sigh of relief I opened my eyes to see a black Chihuahua sitting in the seat next to me. Uh oh – not a dream then. I was in a car, with my hands tied. And that Chihuahua looked pretty mean – I've never seen a small dog like that have such razor sharp teeth. Then he started barking, and the woman in the driver's seat looked back at me and haughtily grinned. Great, it was Echidna.

_And_, as if things couldn't get worse, I slowly looked behind me to see that in the wide gap between the back door and the back seat, Zvase was sprawled on the ground, knocked out. His black skin was covered in little red welts, probably from branches whacking into him on his hopeless sprint for Annabeth. Bleeding gashes coated his withers, obviously from claws, the way they were shaped. Downy feathers that coated his wings were slick with blood, and some of the growing feathers that would actually have let him fly soon had fallen out, some even lying on the ground next to him. Someone had taped his muzzle together with duct tape, probably to prevent him from snapping at anyone. Why torture a foal like this? He was a _baby _for heaven's sake. He could hurt anyone!

Obviously Echidna thought he could, the way she had also hobbled up his legs. I still stared at him openmouthed, horrified. The poor guy started to flinch as he woke up, and his eye facing me shot open, his eye's blazing with anger as the realization that he was completely helpless came upon him. He looked up at me and glared, but when he realized it was just me his gaze softened.

_I'm sorry, Rosalyn._

Echidna looked back again to see me turned around and she snapped, "Turn around now! Stop snooping, or I'll sic Sonny on you again! The Chihuahua grinned a toothy smile, and he growled at me. That was when I realized that this was no ordinary Chihuahua. So I turned around and closed my eyes, and Echidna and Sonny seemed content with that. Of course if she knew that we could speak to each other through our thoughts, maybe she wouldn't feel so triumphant.

_Don't be. It was my fault-_

_No, it wasn't! I was the one who ran off when I smelled that beast. I should've warned you to get Annabeth beforehand._

_I have a feeling they were watching us anyway, _I mused, thinking. Already the pain behind my head was numbing a little, so it felt a lot better. Now I could actually think. _She knew my full name, and attacked at the only time we were alone together. Even if we escaped them this time, they'd make sure to not let it happen again._

Zvase moaned, but not loud enough that Echidna would hear. As if granting us an even bigger boon, the serpent-lady turned on the radio and started singing along with the song after she switched between a few channels. Her singing voice was all gravely..not too pretty.

My little black furry friend continued on. _What are they going to do with us? I heard that they wanted to give us to some "friends" but what could that mean?_

_Well if they're going to hand us over to friends of theirs, they're not friends of ours. But what could they want from us? I'm just human, I'm not half snake or anything like that._

Zvase snorted. _You're more than you seem to yourself, that's for sure._

_What do you mean?_

_Annabeth explained it all to me right before this…well, happened. It's probably too much to take in now, so I'll tell you later._

I wanted to press him about it, mostly because whatever Annabeth explained was usually pretty important, but I was too tired to even think. _You're right. Get some rest Zvase…it looks like we're going to need it._

**AN: Okay, a little shorter than most chapters but right here seemed like a good place to stop. I actually know what I want the eighth chapter to be about so I don't think I'll have to make you guys wait for another several weeks for it. :)**

**But here's the thing – most of you have probably guessed it but Rosalyn has now been captured by the "dark side." Because of this, I need to make a poll, because I don't want to cut out the other half of the story about Percy, Annabeth, and Stephanie and their search for Roz. So do you think it'd be okay until they're all reunited that I'd switch off points of view? The two that I'd do are Roz's POV, and Annabeth's. Of course Percy would join in on the search, same with Chiron and a bunch of others. I'm still a little wary about the idea as I don't like switching POV's like that in the same story, but it seems necessary right now.**

**SO, the polls on my page, could you all visit it? Thanks! Review please!! **


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